No more time for photography??
You'd think that with my business dissolved and no longer having to manage a horse barn, I'd have plenty of free time, right?
Why I need photography now more than ever
But the fuss of an international move, the stress of researching how to re-establish my photography business in a language I don't speak, and learning that new language at my age, keep me pretty busy. Also, the teacher gives a lot of homework 😳🤯
On top of that, I don't have horses anymore, and thus no excuse to insert myself in the local horse world, which makes me desperate for subjects to photograph. One nice lady said I could go photography her horses anytime, and as soon as it gets a tiny bit warmer, I will keep her to that 😁
Dabbling in nature photography
So we decided to go to the local nature center to see if I could photograph some wildlife
The center regularly posts sightings on Facebook, so I was pretty hopeful.
When we arrived, the parking lot was almost completely full. But I told myself not to despair, the nature center is quite large. And they have several separate loops. So I figured we would have at least some parts to ourselves.
Lots of people at the beginning of the trail though.
Lots of people everywhere actually.
At a certain point, there was a large group of really loud people on the same loop. So we held back to let them pass. Unfortunately, we never lost them and I think they were heard miles around us. That pretty much made sure all the wildlife was gone 🤷🏻♀️
So I finally gave up on seeing anything interesting to photograph with my Sigma 150-600. When it gets a little warmer outside, I'll go either earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon.
This was the only "wildlife" I was able to capture 😄
Oh, I forgot, this one too! 😆
I liked the way the ice was bunched up in lines on the river. The light falling through the trees is creating a nice play on the water/ice.
Unusual wildlife
This "wildlife" was pretty willing to pose 🥰
Invisible wild life
And there definitely was evidence of wildlife on the ice!
Domesticated wildlife
The next day, we went to the city forest. Aryn has a small pod of friends that are strict about masking up too, and they get together regularly.
I wasn't hoping to see any wildlife there. It's much smaller and even more crowded. But dogs are allowed there so I figured I could do some pet photography.
So while the girls were sledding, we walked the dogs.
I sure got my exercise that weekend 😳
Elle has the most expressive face. If you look closely, you can see she's crosseyed from the frustration about the gentle leader headcollar. It's effective, but she downright hates it.
Abbott, on the other hand, is so easy on the leash. And he was excited to be allowed to go on the bench 😄
The trails were very slippery, which made walking with two dogs pretty nerve-racking!
So! Lessons learned! Next time I will go early or later, take a tripod and go alone 😄